Man for the Job   

The Sarasota Herald-Tribunes all-woman management triumverate ends with the hire of new editor from Congressional Quarterly.

Mike Connelly, former vice president of Congressional Quarterly, ended four years of an all-woman management triumvirate in Sarasota when he started in January as editor of the Sarasota Herald-Tribune.

"This newspaper is very lucky to have that in its background," says Connelly, 46, about the paper's previous distinction of being run by a female publisher, editor and managing editor. Former Editor Janet Weaver left the paper in November for a position at the Poynter Institute.

However, he says, when it comes to journalism values, the difference between men and women is scant. He looks forward to continuing the Herald-Tribune's "ambitious" tradition of multimedia news and thoughtful enterprise pieces.

Connelly previously worked on international projects for CQ. He started his journalism career at the Wall Street Journal as a copy editor in 1981, becoming deputy bureau chief in Chicago for the paper four years later and moving on to editor posts at the St. Paul Pioneer Press and the Baltimore Sun.

Herald-Tribune Publisher Diane McFarlin was impressed with Connelly's "high journalistic standards," appreciation for convergence and an "astute business sense." "Mike brought everything I was looking for," she says.